Light the Darkness

Indian Creek's Global Cause

At Indian Creek we are highlighting 4 Causes for which we are passionate. A few weeks ago we took a reverse offering where, after we collected the offering, we passed the cash back to our congregation. On December 20, Christmas Sunday, we are giving the whole offering to the 4 Causes.  I'll highlight each of the 4 over the next few blogs starting with the Global Cause.

 
  

Together Indian Creek and Project Partner live out the love of Christ in China! It is just one of the five countries we support but it is the hightlight of this article. Keep watching this blog to see the others. 

Did you know that Christianity is growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world?!  But the number of non believers is still 4 TIMES the population of the United States!  That's 1.2 billion people who still do not know the love of Jesus Christ!  Will you join Indian Creek and Project Partner as we work to increase the number of believers in China?

YOU can make a difference!  Your efforts are valuable in changing China into a Christian nation.  Take Action by Giving, Going, and Praying.  We can give of our time, finances, and skills to help meet the needs of people in China and open their hearts to the gospel. 

You can go with Indian Creek's English Teaching team in July 2010.  Contact the Director, Kristen Levitt to learn more. Look for a meeting in January for those interested.

And you can pray regularly for the needs of the ministry and the people of China. Subscribe to Project Partner for regular prayer concerns.

YOU can play a role in the largest Christian revival in the world and make a strategic impact for Christ's Kingdom!

Live Out LOUD Celebration
Wednesday, December 2
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Don’t miss this evening of celebration and inspiration that highlights ways we can increase our impact in our community and around the world. A light dinner is provided. Childcare is available for ages 2 and younger. Please register for the dinner and child care, click here.

Reaching Internationals

It is a privilege to have Donna Thomas , founder of Project Partner in our home today. Donna asked me to take over Project Partner three years ago. I asked Kristen Levitt to become the Director. And this year we invited Donna to join the Project Partner board. It is a joy to learn from her. Last night she showed us an article that she recently had published in Leadership Journal. I love it when someone 80+ years old keeps fresh and lives on the cutting edge. Here is her article:

Have you been to a fast-food restaurant lately? I was out once ordering a Frosty. Looking at the name tag of the waiter, I noticed his name was Samish.

“Say friend,” I started out, “that’s an interesting name. Where are you from?” He looked directly at me and smiled broadly.

“I’m from Western Africa,” he replied. Not willing to let the conversation stop there, I asked what country.

“Senegal. My family is still over there. I have been here two years now, and I am learning your language.”

“I don’t know that much about Senegal, Samish. What are the religions there?”

“It is nearly all Muslim, and I’m a Muslim.”

Our conversation went on until there was a line behind me. That encounter was the beginning of a great relationship.

Get “Sidetracked” for the Kingdom

Are you in the habit of not paying attention to the opportunities to connect to those around you? We Americans have programmed ourselves to take care of our problems, look straight ahead, and not be sidetracked. But we have an amazing opportunity to meet the people of other nations right in the communities where we live and work. It is time to start looking at these people with eyes of compassion.

I went back to that restaurant, and each time I talked with Samish a little more. I wanted to know him and help him understand the love and grace of Jesus Christ. He had never been in an American home, and his concept of American culture was what he saw on TV, at the movies, and in the newspaper. It was time to invite him to my home for dinner.

His Questions, Not Mine

I prepared a special meal for Samish and another friend of mine who was there to help me with the conversation. We would have chicken, since Muslims don’t eat pork. I thought we would spend the evening as if we had all the time in the world, talking and enjoying ourselves. All the while, my friend and I would be praying that Samish would want to know Jesus. The warmth and comfort of my home and the pleasure of sharing a meal together would be the perfect opportunity to talk about the Lord.

Samish was late arriving, which was strange. He explained that he had taken the time to help another employee get home that evening because her car broke down. I called him a Good Samaritan and he wanted to know what that was. Great! My first opportunity to talk about Jesus.

Before we sat down to dinner, he looked at the artifacts around my house. He could see that I had been to several countries. He asked me questions about my life, what I did, where I had been, and what I had encountered. This was my chance to tell him how the Lord had directed my life. Over dinner, I answered his questions, sharing some of my story.

I could have told him about the good times and the blessings I’ve received from the Lord. Instead I chose to tell him about some of the hard times and how the Lord held my hand and took me through them. He wanted to know about dangerous times in some of my travels. I had those stories too. After a few stories, I was able to tell him how the Lord is my “Abba Father,” how he made me his child when I asked him, and about the love that he has for me.

He asked me just the questions I love to answer, and the great part was that he was doing the asking. It was a wonderful evening. As the evening progressed, we had more and more opportunities. Since he was among friends, he felt free to ask questions. They rolled off his tongue. “Aren’t all Americans Christian? Then how do you know who is and who isn’t? What is the difference in all these religious buildings (churches) with different names?”

As the conversation continued, I was thinking, How did I get myself into this anyway? This in itself is a miracle, considering how shy I used to be. That evening the seed of the gospel was planted, and I continue to pray for him.

God’s Appointments

Meeting Samish wasn’t a coincidence or luck. It was one of God’s divine appointments. He gives them to me and to you. It is up to us to make the most of them.

Another time, a young man at the eyeglass center was helping me pick out frames. I looked for a way to turn the conversation toward the topic of faith. It wasn’t difficult. I asked him his name. It was Joshua. I asked him why his parents chose that name. His answer?

“My parents are Christians.” He didn’t say he was. He did say, however, that he had recently moved to my town and was looking for some way to connect.

This morning I was at a car rental shop. Instantly I recognized that the proprietor was probably from another country. I simply asked him his name. His answer sounded like “Cmoe.” (I probably didn’t spell it correctly.)

“What country are you from?” I asked. It was Morocco. As our conversation continued, I found out that he came to the United States when he was 18. My friend who had gone in the shop with me was listening intently. When we left, we started talking about this process and how excited Cmoe was to have somebody interested in him. Once you see how easy it is to start a conversation like this, it becomes contagious and others want to try it too. Try it and see for yourself.

Name Badges Spell Opportunity

You don’t have to travel 8,000 miles to share the gospel with the world. You don’t even have to go to Mexico. Just look around. The world has come to you in Anytown, USA. Hispanics, Chinese, Thais, Nigerians, and Indians are right in front of you wherever you go.

Look at the clerk in the department store, the waiter at the restaurant, the owner of the specialty shop, the teller at the bank. Now look in the mirror. You are the missionary for this day, this time.

— Donna S. Thomas; © 2009 Christianity Today International/BuildingChurchLeaders.com.

Discuss

1.    How many people do you interact with every day from other countries?

2.    In what area of your city can you find a large population of immigrants? What needs do they have that your church could help meet?

3.    How can you initiate conversations with immigrants in your neighborhood?

 

Gary Kendall

 

Hope Kenya Makes News

This is a reprint from an article in the Kansas City Star about our own, John Wilson, and his work with Hope Kenya.  BIG thanks to our good friend, Tom Bassford, for working to pull this together. It is great to be a part of a church that is living out. Did you know there are four indigenous ministries from Indian Creek (that means ministries started by people that attend here)?

Olathe church hosts development summit on Kenya

Tom Bassford of Olathe-based non-profit Significant Matters was among the hosts of a conference in Olathe that included two representatives from the Kenyan Embassy to the United States, Felicina Ndwiga and Seif Mohammaed Salim.

More News

Hope Kenya and Significant Matters, two nonprofit ministries headquartered in Olathe, recently hosted the Kansas City Kenyan Community Development Summit.

The gathering took place Aug. 15 at Indian Creek Community Church in Olathe.

The intent of the event was to create a forum in which individuals, organizations and public officials with an interest in sustainable community development within Kenya could meet for mutual sharing, networking and potential collaboration.

About 40 individuals and six different organizations, including churches, nonprofits and businesses interested in investing in Kenya, attended. Also attending were two representatives from the Kenyan Embassy to the United States.

John G. Wilson, executive director of Hope Kenya, said “we invited very specific people and organizations” to come together and discover their shared interests and opportunities.

“The conference was a success,” Wilson said.

Organizers said plans are under way to host another summit in 2010 that would include the Kenyan Ambassador to the U.S., Peter Ogego, and an even greater number of individuals and organizations in the area interested in holistic, sustainable community development in Kenya.

Seif Mohammaed Salim, the Keynyan Embassy’s First Secretary, said that in four years and hundreds of similar meetings across the U.S. he has never seen the kind of American/Kenyan collaboration that he saw at the gathering at Indian Creek. He also said he was greatly encouraged by the emphasis on a holistic/sustainable approach.

Always be ready to share

Last week I had a 6 a.m. breakfast meeting. There was a mix-up on where we were supposed to meet so I found myself waiting for the guys I was to meet.  The restaurant was virtually empty so when the waitress came to my table there was plenty of opportunity to talk. I knew her by name and I have prayed for an opportunity to talk to her many times.  I've invited her to church but the times I really got a chance to talk have been few. But this morning there were no interruptions.  We had a great conversation.  She said she would come to Indian Creek and to Alpha. I hope so. This reminds me to never stop praying and to always be prepared to give a reason for the faith that I have in Christ Jesus. 

And if someone asks you about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.  But do this in a gentle and respectful way. 1 Peter 3:15, 16 

Gary Kendall

Gardner Cares

Today the Gardner Campus team, led by Campus Pastor Ben Stears , joined the Johnson County Fair Parade to collect food and canned goods for the Gardner Food Pantry.  They passed out flyers during the week at the fair and asked people to bring the non-perishable food items.  They didn't collect a ton but the exposure was good.  I heard people say, who were in the crowd, "oh, I forgot!" I think that next year the crowd will remember and at least they know there is a Indian Creek Gardner campus.

If you want to view the photo album on Facebook click on the link. 

Gary Kendall

Atheist no more

Here is another story from the latest Alpha class.  Four people have chosen Christ in the last ten days.  Or in this case, we don't know the day but the result is certain.  Here is a note to Cheryl Scott, Alpha team leader. 

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you the impact that Alpha has had on my life.  Several months ago, my wife Shay had started to attend the Alpha class at Indian Creek.  She asked me to go, but she pretty much knew the answer was going to be a resounding NO.  Besides, having her go with the children would give me an evening to myself, or an opportunity to work longer on the evenings when she was preoccupied.

She completed the classes, but never said much about her experiences.  I continued to see emails from Pastor Gary come through on our home computer, but really didn’t pay much attention. 

I grew up in a family that didn’t place much emphasis on church, religion or GOD.  As I grew into an adult, I continued to keep faith at an arms distance, although I was occasionally talked into going to church by my wife.  She would continue to tell me “a family that prays together stays together”… and that was enough to get me to go to church for a week.

After completion of her Alpha class, I was glad to get the week on a “normal” schedule… but horrified by the question when she decided to ask me to go with her to the next class.  I cowered at the thought of having to spend 10 weeks with a bunch of strangers talking about the bible and religion.  I never believed in God or Jesus, I thought that I was firmly planted in my beliefs that they were just stories, and the stories were only to teach a lesson, and not really based in reality or history.  I would have been classified as a “Atheist”, and had no intention to learn why I was wrong.

When Shay asked me to go, I could hear in her voice that this was very important for her.  I said yes.  Not because I really wanted to learn, but because I love my wife and it was something that was important to her.  As the first class approached, I kept telling myself, “Free food, I love my wife and am doing it for her”.

We were in the “Light Blue” table group, with Lisa Aguire as our table leader.  At the first session, my wife pretty much laid it out to the entire group that I was not a believer, and I was terrified at the thoughts of being judged and had visions of other table members standing on their chairs to declare to the 150 people in the room that “HERE IS THE NON BELIEVER!”  Much to my amazement, no one pointed and screamed. 

Throughout the 10 weeks, I pretty much kept quiet.  I listened to the conversations, participated when absolutely necessary, but overall was just a fly on the wall.  I enjoyed the great jokes, ate the food, listened and learned.  I even started to plan on Sunday as being a church day.  After a few weeks of attending, I started noticing a change…  I was suddenly compelled to do “something”.  We volunteered for the church’s volunteer day and we spent a whole Saturday working at a transitional housing facility.  We took the truck and equipment from our landscaping company and worked the entire day.  Oddly enough, it was fulfilling to help and volunteer our efforts.

I can’t tell you the time, day, week or even the month that it happened, but God must have snuck into my life.  I can only notice it now, as I look back, but my heart has changed.  My relationship with my children and my wife has changed.  I had heard many stories from different people stating the “exact time” when they felt God enter their lives, but I’m not one of those people.  All I can describe is that he must have snuck in the back door and taken up residence in my heart.  I had started Alpha with a thought that I couldn’t possibly be worthy of God’s love, I have said too many bad things, done too many bad things, and forsaken him at every opportunity.  I thought that the doubt I had, must mean that I’m not a believer. 

I don’t know when God entered my heart and life.  I only know that he did.  I look at everything differently and can’t figure out why.  My wife and I are more loving to each other.  We are more compassionate with each other and more thoughtful.  I find old scars in my mind and heart to be gone, resentment to be vanquished and a peace that I have never experienced.

Pastor Gary asked to testimonials on the last night of Alpha.  I felt that maybe my story wasn’t “good” enough.  The other speakers had far more difficult situations in their lives.  My story wouldn’t possibly be moving enough for me to share.  My wife cried.  I thought at first that she was moved by the other stories… but I think she was mostly moved by the fact that she felt knew God entered my heart.  Our marriage is very complex.  We have a blended family with 6 children.  We have always loved each other, but never really had that “tight, respectful and loving” relationship.  For the first time in 7 years, I know truly what it is to love and honor my wife.  I know how to be thankful for what I have, and gaze adoringly at my beautiful children.  God saved my life, God saved my marriage.  Maybe we would have gone through our lives and tolerated our journey together, but now, we can look forward to ENJOYING the journey together.  God has made me a better man, better father and better husband.  I know now that it is not enough to just make money, do the chores, or play the role of Dad and husband, I know what it means now to do all those things with the love of God in my heart.

I would like to tell Pastor Gary thank-you from the bottom of my heart.  Not only have you helped me to save the things I cherish, but you have taught me to cherish the things most important in my life.  I may not be a outspoken Christian, but I will do all I can to be the best Christian I can. 

Thank you.

T.C. Kim

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Making a Difference

  This is a crowed church in China.  There were people standing outside.  The church serves 200 presently. The passion and excitement of the people was easy to discern. We shared this service with them then went to see their new church which is under construction.  The funds came from donors of Project Partner.  You can see the building in the next picture.

The new building will be three stories.  It will easily serve 500. Each church not only holds worship services but starts home churches and preaching points.  Generally speaking a church like this in the near future will support 5-7 new branches.  This is the Great Commission at work.  It is multiplication in very similar ways to what we are doing at Indian Creek .  Don't you love the difference you are making!

Gary Kendall

China

This trip had the most drama and difficulty of any trip so far.  But God has revealed His greatness repeatedly.  He can do anything He wants and it is awesome to see Him work.  Once the good part started I have to say that this is the best trip ever to China.  I am so humbled and impressed at the Chinese church.  I've been moved to tears repeatedly.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is very evident.  The stories are amazing.  They need to be shared personally but there are many reasons to be encouraged. I'm reminded continually why God has us at work in China with Project Partner and as a ministry partner at Indian Creek.

To those of you who are praying please keep it up.  You must be doing something right!  Thank you!

Gary Kendall

What a View!

This is the view out my hotel window.  Who says a trip like this doesn't have a perk like the best of man and the best of God's beauty combining for a spectacular view.  The hotel was overbooked but I had a reservation so they gave me an upgrade.  That was nice especially after 40 hours of travel from my door to the hotel room with little to no sleep.  Thanks for your prayers.  They've already been put to work.  I'm glad to know you are there.

Gary Kendall

What Does an Athiest Think of Missionaries to Africa

Many of you met Rufus when he spoke at Indian Creek.  He recruits big game hunters to Africa and then he engages them in making a difference in Africa.  Here is what he heard from one of his contacts.  It is revealing and exciting to hear that He can see God at work through the church in Africa.  This is long but it is worth your time.  It gets better as it goes. Gary Kendall As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset.  Matthew Parris Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work. It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God. Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good. I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.   But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing. First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall. At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi. We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission. Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open. This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. "Privately" because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service. It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught. There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: "theirs" and therefore best for "them"; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours. I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the "big man" and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition. Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders. How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? "Because it's there," he said. To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity. Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates. Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted. And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.

 

Pray with Rufus as he travels in the US Rufus is in Montana, soon to be in Portland, OR and then on to Dallas before returning to South Africa.  He is recruiting hunters as well as raising personal support. Pray for good connections and generous people along his path.